Aegis BPO, the back office arm of the Essar Group, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Australian contact centre company UCMS Group for A$54 million (Rs 202 crore).
This acquisition would enable Aegis to extend its reach into the high growth markets of Australia and New Zealand, Mr Aparup Sengupta, Global CEO and Managing Director of Aegis, said in a conference call.
Terms of pact
Under the terms of the agreement, Aegis will pay UCMS stockholders A$0.98 a share in cash through Aegis BPO Services Australia, which represents a premium of 133 per cent over closing price of UCMS on May 14.
The Australian Securities Exchange-listed UCMS Group is a Melbourne-based BPO company which services organisations in the telecommunications, finance, energy, transport and public sectors. Like Aegis, UCMS too provides services in the customer lifecycle management space, said Mr Sengupta.
Going forward, Aegis intends to delist UCMS Group, said Mr Sengupta. For the year ended December 2008, Aegis reported a net profit of $6.7 million.
This is the twelfth company acquired by Aegis in the past four years; the UCMS Group acquisition has been done by the company’s Australian affiliate Aegis BPO Services Australia.
Aegis has an internal ‘mergers and acquisitions’ team that works on a unique strategy that revolves around integrating an acquisition in within 99 days, said Mr Sengupta.
The transaction is subject to several conditions, including UCMS shareholder approval, approval by the Supreme Court of Victoria (in Australia) and certain other customary closing conditions, the company said in a press release.
Earlier this year, Aegis had announced the intention to acquire Nasdaq-listed ICT Group over $130 million. But the acquisition fell through as the “ICT Group determined that it would not be in the best interest of the company to pursue the transaction proposed by Aegis.”
Mr Sengupta said that Aegis did not rebid for ICT Group.
headcount
Despite the economic downturn, the Essar group company has been adding 1,000 employees on a monthly basis, he said.
The company has 33,000 employees in countries such as India, the Philippines, the US, Costa Rica, Kenya and now Australia, the statement said.
Source: The Hindu Businessline